Sometimes things really come together, without planning, stress or striving. That happened in our kitchen this weekend. Seemed like we spent the days accidentally coming up with meals that were not only tasty, but amounted to celebrations of the local foods that are available at this moment in the year.
Saturday morning, after the farmer’s market, we ate eggs from our chickens with bacon from Double H Farm, bread from Albemarle Baking Company, and jam I made last year from the wineberries that grow all over our land.
That afternoon, we were checking out the garden and I said, "What should we do with all these bell peppers?" "Stuff ’em," was Mr. Green Scene’s wise reply. Inside, he pulled out an old Italian cookbook passed down from his grandmother, and found not only a recipe for stuffed peppers but another for potato croquettes. So that meal used our peppers, canned tomatoes and garlic, Double H sausage, and potatoes from our CSA. And it would have made anybody’s grandmother proud.
Che berries, raised by Big Arms Farm, were the star on Sunday morning. Ever seen them? They’re a Chinese fruit and look like this:
We put them into our pancakes and sliced up a Henley orchard apple on the side:
It all climaxed Sunday night when we thawed out a big piece of venison–which a neighbor gave us last year mere minutes after killing the deer–and made it into a stew. We’ve not eaten much venison before, and felt a little wary, but it was damn good. It was similar to beef stew–but super-local and without the heavy enviromental footprint of beef. We will be eating more of this meat.
On the side: salad from our garden (arugula, mizuna, lettuce, nasturtiums, peppers and radish) and not-at-all-local whole wheat biscuits!
Dear Lord, we’ve died and gone to local-food heaven! Otherwise known as Central Virginia…
What fall amazingness are you eating now?
